Because of a Book
by JustYourAverageWitch
Summary: A Care of Magical Creatures book breaks loose...What could go wrong? 'His eyes had glazed over as his mind fought between whether he should tell Hermione the truth or fib to his own best friend.' Warnings: Small bit of bad language and Ginny bashing; AU
1. Because of a Book

**A/N: This was written for March's homework for the oh-so-intelligent Ravenclaws over at Hogwarts International. If you haven't heard of it, go check it out! My prompts were: Purple, clocks, towel, "You think? ", and Care of Magical Creatures book. Whenever one of the prompts is first used, it will be bolded. By the way, there will be slight Ginny bashing. Please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, sadly.**

SNAP!

"Bloody hell!" exclaimed a very frustrated Harry Potter. He had been in the attic of his new home, looking for a book that Hermione needed, when his old **Care of Magical Creatures book** came loose and clamped painfully around his hand.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Hermione's voice asked, worried for her best friend. Footsteps were heard as she hurried up the stairs and pushed open the wooden entrance to the musty and slightly dark attic.

"I'm fine, Hermione," Harry responded quickly, a little too quickly for Hermione saw through the lie and gently held his hand, examining it.

"You're bleeding!" she cried. She stood up quickly and searched through the piles of useless junk that Harry had collected over the years. She spotted various abnormal objects, including a singing fish, a pink diary belonging to a girl named Rosie Harold, and a Johnny Depp poster.

"What are you looking for?" Harry asked at last.

"Something to clean the blood off of your hand. Healing spells are quite difficult to learn, especially if you aren't an Auror or a Healer."

The search for that mysterious something went on for a short period of time. Hermione had, so far, found thirteen rubber ducks, two empty perfume bottles (for women), five broken yoyos, and at least thirty **clocks** – _smashed _clocks.

"Uh, Harry? Why do you have so many broken clocks?"

"Oh, well… I'm not really a morning person, so whenever I wake up, I grab my wand and throw the clock against the wall," Harry admitted sheepishly.

_No wonder he's late so many times, _Hermione thought, smiling fondly before continuing her search.

She walked towards a pile of cloth and sifted through it, trying to find something relatively big and thick. At last, at long last, she found a **towel**. However, it was a **purple** towel with pastel colored butterflies all over it.

Stifling a giggle, Hermione brought the towel back to where Harry was and ripped it into two strips. She wet one of the strips to clean out the blood. She wrapped the larger strip around his hand and tightened it.

"Now, I'm no Healer, but I think that should be healed in less than 24 hours," Hermione smiled.

"Thanks, Hermione. Why don't I make us some hot cocoa?"

"Sure," she grinned. Harry's hot cocoa has almost as famous as he was! He would add homemade whip cream, chocolate sprinkles, and something else that no one had yet to find out.

The two headed downstairs to the vast kitchen. The walls were a golden brown and lined with various photo frames. Most of the pictures were Wizard photos because they were moving, but a few were Muggle photos that stood as still as a rock.

While Hermione was admiring the brand new additions, Harry had made two cups of hot cocoa and found a box of muffins. He set them on the table and coughed politely, not wanting to startle Hermione.

She sat down, smiling at Harry in thanks. Hermione picked out a banana nut muffin and Harry chose a plain muffin. They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being the sipping, the munching, and the clinking.

"So, how are you and Ron doing?" Harry asked after finishing his snack.

"Oh, we found out that we argued too much to make our relationship work, so we broke up and decided to still be friends," Hermione shrugged. "How are you and Ginny?"

"I found out that she only wanted me for the fame and broke up with her. She's dating Cormac McLaggen right now."

"That's awful! So, you're not with anyone right now?" she asked carefully. _Please say no. Please say no. Please say-_

"Not really. Most people are after me just so they can get on the front page of _The Daily Prophet_."

"It's the same with me. Everyone wants to date one of the 'Golden Trio' as journalists have dubbed us," she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Harry smiled warmly at her before jokingly saying, "Maybe we should just date each other."

Hermione, however, froze. She had had a crush on Harry ever since fourth year, but never really admitted it. She had tried making him jealous by thinking that she liked Ron, but he had been oblivious as most boys were prone to be and had gone out with Ginny.

"That's not such a bad idea…" she whispered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Harry asked, baffled.

Hermione gulped and, seeing no way out of this as she was a bloody terrible liar, repeated herself, this time louder, "I said that it's not such a dreadful suggestion."

Harry was silent, seemingly petrified where he sat. His eyes had glazed over as his mind fought between whether he should tell Hermione the truth or fib to his own best friend. His lips were partly open and his heart was beating a tad more rapidly than usual.

A voice that sounded as though he was hearing it from the inside of a body of water broke through his thought process. It took him a while to realize that it was Hermione speaking to him, asking if he needed to be taken to St. Mungo's.

"I'm fine." His voice came out hoarse, like he was trying to act normal but failing miserably.

"Are you sure?" Her voice sounded concerned and that warmed his heart a little.

"I'm certain," he smiled. His face suddenly turned serious. "Listen, Hermione, I really like you. Actually, I've had a crush on you since fourth year. When you said that you were going to the Yule Ball with Krum, I was disappointed. I only went out with Ginny and Cho to make you jealous, but I guess it didn't work. I would love it if you gave me a chance…" he trailed off here, forgetting about the speech that he had rehearsed every night before turning in just in case the right moment came his way and improvising.

Hermione, on the other hand, was completely and utterly shocked. Harry Potter, number one on _Witch Weekly's _Sexiest Bachelors List, had a crush on _her_, the bushy-haired bookworm?

Harry, dreading the worse as he often does, took her silence for rejection. "It's alright if you don't like me in that way, Hermi-"

He was cut off by Hermione's lips on his. She pulled away before he had a chance to respond, her cheeks tainted pink.

"You like me, too?" he asked hesitantly.

She grinned and cheekily said, **"You think?"**

And that, ladies and gentlemen, Gryffindors and Slytherins, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, Muggles and wizards (or witches), is how Harry Potter and Hermione Granger got together. It was all thanks to a Care of Magical Creatures book, a lot of clocks, and a purple towel. It seems that random objects that we overlook in our day to day lives can help to best friends realize how they feel for one another.


	2. Author's Note

Dear readers,

If you have enjoyed this story, please "heart" it on figment (dot) com. My name there is the same as it is here (JustYourAverageWitch). Here is the link: www(dot)figment(dot)com/books/102928-Because-of-a-Book

Thanks,

JustYourAverageWitch

(Jen)


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